Inside Trump's Narcissism
What's Positive Narcissism & Why is Trump Lacking It? (Vol. 6; Issue 23)
To be labeled “narcissistic” in contemporary culture is hardly a compliment. Yet an individual needs to have some narcissism to thrive in life, typically in the form of considerable self-love. A high school graduate who continues his or her education, whether at a trade school or at an Ivy League university, must be able to imagine succeeding. Such an internal expectation of success reveals the presence of narcissism in a good way.
Here’s where I contradict myself: In earlier essays I described Donald Trump as a malignant narcissist (fortunately for me, human subjectivity always contains contradictions and involves internal conflict). In this essay, I explore how Trump’s reliance on external sources of admiration suggests a surprising lack of even self-regard. His behaviors still easily meet the criteria for narcissistic personality disorder (NPD). He displays seven of the nine possible traits: arrogance, grandiose self-importance, feeling “special,” feeling entitled, exploiting others and lacking empathy. Five are required to meet the criteria for NPD.
Trump’s underlying insecurity seems obvious. Returning to those NPD diagnostic criteria, the final one, namely the need for excessive admiration, is striking. Of central importance is that Trump must receive validation, attention and praise from outside sources.
Sigmund Freud1, despite his many erroneous ideas, got a lot right about narcissism. Of relevance to Trump and others with this variation of narcissism, he wrote:
The realization of impotence, of one's own inability to love, in consequence of mental or physical disorder, has an exceedingly lowering effect upon self-regard. Here, in my judgment, we must look for one of the sources of the feelings of inferiority… (p. 98)
Many malignant narcissists are so preoccupied with their own grandiosity that their need for external validation is minimal. Trump’s, on the contrary, is maximal. Even though federal judges have limited or reversed some of Trump’s efforts, a few recent examples include:
Changing the name of the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts to the Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center, or the Trump-Kennedy Center. It is remarkable, but unsurprising, that Trump failed to see the absurdity of adding his name to a memorial. But it likely speaks volumes regarding the need for external validation.
Planning to construct a $400 million ballroom project on the site of the demolished East Wing, consisting of a 90,000-square-foot complex set up for 1,000 guests with a subterranean security facility. Although Trump now refutes it, early officials initially referred to the space as the President Donald J. Trump Ballroom.
Wanting to build a massive arch based on Paris’ Arc de Triomphe dubbed the Arc de Trump.
Ordering the State Department to issue limited-edition US passports featuring a portrait and signature of President Donald Trump to commemorate the nation's 250th birthday. No president has ever made such a request.
Honoring America’s 250th birthday, Trump also wishes to have his face featured on a newly proposed commemorative $250 bill.
Arranging for massive banners of pictures of him to be hung from the Departments of Labor, Agriculture and Justice so that visitors traveling up Pennsylvania Avenue cannot help but see his mug.
Any number of emotional reactions to this list would be appropriate. Some might feel sadness or pity at this man’s painfully obvious need for validation from the outside, much of it absurd (a $250 bill?). Others might feel enraged. Los Angeles Times columnist Jackie Calmes2 notes that Trump:
… contrives his projects one after the other, designs them, picks the architects, contractors, and even materials, and lets out the opaque, no-bid contracts, all without consulting Congress or honoring the constitutional power of the purse — until he needs more money, like for the ballroom that he’s said wouldn’t require a dime from taxpayers.
Ironically, then, Trump is a rather sad, selfless person, meaning he has little sense of self. It would indeed be tragic were it not for the fact that Trump, with his impulsive, toddler-like behavior3, wields immense power. His need for external validation explains why autocrats like Netanyahu, Xi and Putin manipulate him like a puppeteer’s marionette. Trump’s Iranian fiasco, intended to helpfully depose the theocratic regime there, has utterly failed. Iran is more powerful than ever, and its evil regime is more entrenched than ever. Trump would deserve compassion if he were your friend. But as president, he inspires nothing less than terror among educated global citizens.
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And check out my book, Lover, Exorcist, Critic: Understanding Depth Psychotherapy, available on Amazon.
References
1 Freud, S. (1914). On Narcissism: An Introduction. Standard Edition, 14:67-102.
2 Calmes, J. (2026). As we approach July 4th, the capital is fittingly a mess: the adulatory banners and ego-driven construction hardly seem appropriate for a people who renounced a king. Los Angeles Times, published June 4, 2026.
3 Drezner, D. W. (2020). Toddler in chief: What Donald Trump teaches us about the modern presidency. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.